IMLOU RACE WEEK (Goals)

"Christopher Day from Yorktown, Indiana, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN"

These words (or something similar) have been ringing in my head for weeks/months/years now.  And in exactly one week, I will finally get to hear them.

I hope to post some random thoughts for you each day this week as we get closer to race day, but for as therapeutic as it is for me to share my thoughts, it still makes my stomach turn a little bit.

Today was an easy open water swim workout and tomorrow is a rest day, so I've got some time to finalize my nutrition plans and goals for the day.  Finalizing the nutrition plan and race strategy conversation with coach Justin is tomorrow night, so tonight I've put the pen to the paper on some goals.

Now let me be clear, MY GOAL IS TO FINISH!  Nothing will change that, but in the likely event that this is indeed the ONLY Ironman I will ever complete, I want to have the best possible day.  I've researched many calculators about how my time should compare to my 70.3 time, and I've broken down my day into a number of facets that I feel like I understand very well to come up with the following A, B, C goals:

	SWIM	T1	BIKE	T2	RUN	TOTAL
A	1:30	0:07	6:50	0:07	5:45	14:19
B	1:40	0:08	7:10	0:08	6:30	15:36
C	1:50	0:09	7:30	0:09	7:15	16:53

Bottom line, my "perfect" day would result in a 14:19, and I would be beyond elated!  It would be a dream like no other to finish within that time.  6:50 on the bike is a 16.4 mph avg, and a 5:45 marathon is a 13:10 pace.

The B goal is what I truly think it possible based on my training, my 70.3 time and where I think my overall fitness is at.  7:10 on the bike is a 15.6 mph avg, and a 6:30 marathon is a 14:53 pace.

The C goal is what I am prepared to accept which ultimately becomes a race to midnight.  Remember, in order to be an official finisher, you must finish inside of 17 hours and before midnight.  Again, that is the goal....just to finish, but I feel like if my early splits are flirting with these times then it will become a gut check like no other!

Either way, I hope you will stay up late next Sunday night to watch me finish on the live feeds.  (Stay tuned for my "spectator guide" post later this week on how to do that.)  But I will do my best to finish as fast as possible so that you can go to bed on time!  :)